Borude’s return surprised many

Fifty-four-year-old late senior inspector Arun Borude, who was dismissed from service after he was accused of raping a minor from Powai, had his share of controversies during his two-decade-long career.

Borude was found lying injured near the railway tracks at Srirampur near Ahmednagar on Wednesday. He died on his way to hospital.

Everyone had written Borude off when he proceeded on long leave after his name cropped up in the alleged custodial murder of Ghatkopar bomb blast accused, Khwaja Yunus.

His seniors’ decision to reinstate Borude even before the decision on his alleged involvement in Yunus’s death raised many eyebrows. Borude made a comeback with a plum posting as senior inspector of LT Marg police station early this year.

An officer from 1983 batch of the state police, Borude was known for his regal lifestyle and penchant for sleek machines. He refurbished his office at the LT Marg police station lavishly. He drove a Pajero and is said to have amassed property that was beyond his known sources of income — something the Anti-Corruption Bureau is investigating.

Borude’s involvement in the Powai rape case was a jolt to the Mumbai police’s attempts to rebuild its image after the November 26, 2008 terror attacks. Borude had been on the run since early November when a domestic help from Powai, Shanta Gaikwad, named him as one of her customers. Borude had been accused of raping a minor who Gaikwad had allegedly lured into prostitution.

Borude managed to evade arrest until his death on Wednesday, the day the police filed the charge sheet in the rape case. “We filed a charge sheet against three accused, Shanta Gaikwad, Mohanchand Shyam and Satyanarayan Gupta. Borude was shown as an absconding accused,” said Prakash Mutiyal, deputy commissioner of police (zone 10).

The police are trying to ascertain how Borude died. Sources in the Ahmednagar police told the Hindustan Times that Borude was walking along the tracks while talking on his mobile phone when a train hit him from the side.

Police sources said there were injury marks on one side of his body but there were no cuts, suggesting it may not have been suicide.

Additional superintendent of police, Ahmednagar, Sunil Kadafne, said the police were still to find someone who could corroborate the details of the incident. “Some people had seen him loitering near the tracks minutes before he was found injured,” Kadafne said. “We are sending the body for an autopsy and are in the process of recording the statement of witnesses [including the engine driver].”